Extreme Animal Phobia, D Gray-Man Characters
by author12306
Summary: Some people have extreme, crippling phobias of animals, what happens when you decide what phobia one of the characters from D. Gray-Man has, and read about their trip to exposure therapy, along with two others. The story doesn't start until chapter 2, this is based off of the show 'My Extreme Animal Phobia'. R&R, thanks a bunch if you do :)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man, not the idea of exposure therapy for the cure of animal phobias.

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**Okay, so this isn't gonna be the first chapter, I need you guys' help to write this :) If you want to or can, please leave a review with the name of one of the characters from D. Gray-Man, it can be an Exorcist, a finder, someone from the science division (expect Reever), even a Noah! The put the animal that you would like them to have a phobia, along with the severity of said phobia. If you can't really place it on a 1-10 scale then just put how the character would react. I'm also doing this where you can choose whether it takes place in the same era as D. Gray-Man with the character's still having their normal skills (this applies to Exorcists and Noah mostly) or it can be a bit more of a future AU without innocence or Akuma. I will choose three of the entered phobias and characters, along with the reviewer's decision on the other previously mentioned things. You are welcome to send in more than one idea, just please wait until your first idea has already been used. I will use every one sent in, it may take awhile. And I apologize, I cannot start until I've gotten three ideas. If you've ever watched the show My Extreme Animal Phobia then you'll know what will happen, if not, then this is going to be about the experiences of each character idea I get going through exposure therapy to get over an animal phobia. I know the way I word things is a little (maybe a bit more so) confusing, so if you have any questions send me a PM and I'll be glad to explain what I'm trying to say :) I can't wait to start writing this! Oh, and if you want to enter more than one idea please just send it in another review after your first idea has been used. See you guys soon with a chapter! Thanks a bunch if you put up with this random set of instructions, I deeply appreciate it!**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-man or ideas I've gotten from my readers.

A/N: Thanks to crownclown25, Comrade Jessica, and guest reviewer for the ideas :) Oh, and I should probably say there's gonna be major OOCness throughout this story.

* * *

Chapter 1: Cats, bunnies, and sharks.

"Welcome to the Black Order Therapy Center," Dr. Reever Wenham greeted the three people sitting on a long couch in front of him, "This week you three will go through exposure therapy. You will slowly get used to be around the animal that causes your phobia."

Yu Kanda tried to act calm, he tried to act unfazed by the mention of his phobia, but he couldn't help fidget. He was nervous, for as long as he could remember he'd been afraid of any body of water that wasn't concrete and clear. He'd watched shows about people getting attacked by sharks when he was a kid, lots of shows about people being attacked by sharks, and it led him to fear the water so much he refused to even learn to swim. Just thinking about sharks was starting to make him feel panicked.

Allen Walker's shoulders shook in a silent, nervous chuckle. He was trying not to show his obvious fear, but his thoughts strayed to cats. Cats that had scared him so badly he was afraid to even leave his home when one was within sight of his house. Cats that he had to stop what he was doing to change the channel when a cat food commercial came on. He had even cancelled so many outings with friends because he was too afraid to leave his home, afraid of coming across a cat. He couldn't go to the zoo, large cats were the worst. The thought of those large jaws crushing bones sent chills up Allen's spine and made tears sting against the back of his eyes. He couldn't even begin to name the source of his fear, he only remembered hiding from them.

Lavi Bookman tried to keep a silly grin on his face, but he had trouble not letting it slip. Most people loved bunnies, rabbits, whatever they wanted to call them, but the twitching ears and sharp teeth had always gotten to Lavi. He had gone to a friend's party when he was little and his friend had a rabbit, when Lavi got to hold the rabbit it decided it was done being held. It bit a chunk of skin from his palm and ran away. His friend had never forgiven him for losing his pet bunny. Since then the thought of rabbits had been too much for poor Lavi to bear. He got wouldn't go to the pet store near his house to get food for his dog, he'd send his friends to. He wouldn't go into his backyard, where small groups of rabbits had formed their homes. He had almost isolated himself from the outside world to avoid them.

"Now, to gauge how bad your phobia really is, I'm going to show you each a video of your feared animal. Don't try to keep calm, don't look away from the screen," Dr. Wenham turned on the television that sat in front of the couch.

The first video to start playing was of sharks.

It showed sharks swimming peacefully, it showed them eating, it showed them getting caught in nets. It showed every type of shark from whale sharks to the cheap sharks people bought at pet stores, which may or may not even be real sharks. At first Kanda simply took slow, shaky breaths, but as it showed larger sharks, sharks eating, and sharks swimming towards people he began to breath faster. He froze. He was like a deer in headlights.

"Kanda what are you feeling right now? Why are you so afraid of this video?" Dr. Wenham asked calmly.

Kanda didn't answer for a few moments, he seemed to consider his answer, "They attack people for no reason. They can even rip whole limbs off effortlessly."

"Do you know that for sure? Or are you just scaring yourself?"

Kanda didn't answer the question. He shuddered as it showed a whale shark. Finally the video was over.

Next was cats. Kittens playing, jumping, grooming, sleeping. Adult cats grooming, sleeping, playing, hunting, eating. Big cats sleeping or walking.

Allen's immediate reaction was to look away, but after a small scolding encouragement from Dr. Wenham he forced himself to look back at the screen. He let out a nervous laugh as he felt fearful tears warm the back of his eyes. He was truly hysterical in the next moment. He was laughing loudly and tears streamed his face. His hands were shaking.

"What scares you the most about this, Allen?" Dr. Wenham asked.

Allen shook his head, offering no real answer. Even if he tried to answer it would have likely been pathetic whimpering. Finally the video ended and his hysterical, fearful laughter ended with it.

The final video was of rabbits. Cute bunnies, eating carrots, twitching their noses, hopping around and munching grass. Baby bunnies being held by small children, larger bunnies peacefully sitting in cages and eating alfalfa hay.

"No, no, no no no no," Lavi muttered, he looked as if he were about to bolt. He wanted to look away, he wanted to stare at the floor, at his hands, anything but the screen. He finally looked away from the screen.

"Lavi, can you look back at the screen?" Dr. Wenham asked.

"No," he began to cry quietly, shaking his head and refusing to watch the rest of the video.

"Okay, you all did very good," Dr. Wenham praised, "Now go to your rooms. There are some pictures in there that I'm going to ask you to put on the wall."

"Wait, you mean we're gonna have to put those pictures up in the room we're _sleeping _in?" Allen asked shakily.

"Yes, we're taking baby steps here, and that's the next step," Dr. Wenham nodded.

Each of them went to the rooms they were assigned for the week.

* * *

**Kanda**

Kanda took the longest to hang up all of the posters in his room because he kept stopping. He wouldn't just stop putting up the posters, he would stop moving. His legs would feel weak and he would have to sit down. He finally got the last poster up before he turned out every light in the room and went to bed, pulling the blanket over his head to avoid seeing the posters of sharks.

* * *

**Lavi**

Lavi let a small squeaking scream of terror escape his throat as he looked at all of the posters he had to hang up. He almost refused to touch the posters until he realized they were on his bed, he'd have to move them eventually.

"Nice paper, don't turn and show my the scary picture," he hummed as he held the paper as far away from him as he could. He finally came to the wall and closed his eyes as he hung up the picture, but when he opened his eyes he hadn't turned around enough so he was facing another one of the previously hung pictures. He let out a small shriek of fear and felt his knees and hands shaking. He quickly ran back to where the stack of posters was and he continued to do the same thing until the walls were covered with the pictures. He then tried to go to sleep, knowing he wouldn't be able to fall asleep in the rabbit filled room.

* * *

**Allen**

When Allen entered his room he let out a nervous chuckle, that's how he dealt with fear. He didn't waste time to start putting the posters up, as the other two had. He picked one after the other up and hung them up, occasionally letting his fearful laughter grow louder than it should have. He finally hung all the posters, and realized with a sense of annoyance that he had accidentally positioned them all on the wall next to his bed. He had a feeling he would never fall asleep.

* * *

**The Next Morning at Breakfast**

"I didn't sleep at all last night, did either of you manage to?" Lavi asked in a hoarse, scared voice.

Allen and Kanda both shook their heads, returning to eating their food.

"I wonder what we'll have to do today," Kanda spoke darkly.

Dr. Wenham walked in, "So, how did you all sleep?"

"Horrible," Lavi groaned and laid his head on the table.

"Terrible," Allen responded, still eating.

"Che," was Kanda's reply.

"Well, today we're going to an animal center," Dr. Wenham said, he almost always got that answer from people. Though Kanda's reply was new.

The mood in the room seemed to take a turn for the worse at those words. The three of them groaned and complained at that simple statement.

* * *

**Animal Center**

"You all did well yesterday, but today will be harder. Instead of pictures and videos you will be faced with the real thing," Dr. Wenham explained.

Each of the three made some noise of complaint at this fact.

"First will be Lavi," Dr. Wenham led all three of them to a room that held various farm animals, including five or six cages and terrariums with bunnies on soft bedding.

Lavi attempted to enter the room last, only to be dragged in before the other two by Dr. Wenham, "Okay, they're in cages, see?"

Lavi had his single eyes squeezed shut tight and he shook his head, refusing to look at the adorable creatures before him.

"Okay, just listen to me, if you want to, Lavi, you can take a few steps back. The only thing is, you have open your eyes if you do," Dr. Wenham coaxed.

Lavi let out a deep breath as he took three large steps back and opened his eye. He took long, deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

"Do you think you can take a step forward?" Dr. Wenham asked.

Lavi almost screamed at the small request but slowly inched forward, "They're eating! Oh god, their teeth!"

"It's just what rabbits do, Lavi. See, they aren't hurting anyone," Dr. Wenham assured, "Well, maybe a piece of fruit."

Lavi gave a stiff nod.

"Do you think you can get any closer?" Dr. Wenham asked again.

Lavi gave another stiff nod and stepped forward. His entire body tensed and he muttered something under his breath.

"You're doing really good, Lavi. Now, just one more thing and then we'll leave. Okay?" Dr. Wenham urged, "Reach out and touch the side of the cage."

"Do I have to?" Lavi looked as if he wanted to move back.

"No, you don't, but it'll help you get farther along faster," Dr. Wenham assured.

Lavi took a deep breath, reached out a shaking hand, and touched the side of the metal barred cage. He let out a small squeak of surprise as he pulled his hand back.

"Good, now you're done for the day," Dr. Wenham smiled, leading the way back out of the door.

"Allen, you're up next," Dr. Wenham warned as they approached one of the rooms. As they entered the room they saw it looked much like a kennel. The walls had cages built in with cats occupying many of them.

Allen began to chuckle nervously again, his body tensing. His thoughts kept drifting to how afraid he was, which only made it worse.

One of the cats walked towards the bars of the cage it was in and rubbed against them as if begging for attention.

Allen stumbled away from the cage.

"It's just saying hi to you," Dr. Wenham assured as he put a hand on Allen's shoulder and gently guided him forward again, "Do you think you can get closer to any of the cages? No, Allen, don't look away from them."

Allen forced himself to return his gaze to the cages full of cats. A nervous chuckle escaped his lips. He took a half willing step towards one of the cages. Then another, and yet another.

"Good job, now just reach out and touch the cage," Dr. Wenham instructed.

Allen did as he was told before he burst into terrified laughter, tears making their way down his face.

"Good job, Allen," Dr. Wenham said as he turned towards the door.

Kanda knew that he would be next.

They were led to another room that held multiple aquariums of small sharks. The room had blue lighting that matched the lighting of the tanks.

Kanda froze in the doorway, "I'm not going any further than this."

"If you stay there, Kanda, you won't make any progress. They can't hurt you," Dr. Wenham coaxed.

"Che," Kanda finally walked forward on shaking legs. He looked at the ground, not any of the various aquariums. He could feel panic rising at the thought of all of the creatures in the room.

"Kanda, just look up at one of the aquariums, choose any one of them," Dr. Wenham encouraged.

Kanda glanced up at one of the aquariums, seeing it was full of small, baby sharks.

"Now get closer to the aquarium."

Kanda took an unwilling step to the aquarium, then another, then another, until he was within an arm's reach of it.

"Good, now just touch the aquarium. They won't hurt you, see? They're just swimming," Dr. Wenham said.

Kanda did as he was told. As soon as he had, however, he pulled his hand away.

"Good job, guys," Dr. Wenham gave an encouraging smile as they left the animal center, "When we get back, I've got a surprise for you all."

* * *

**At the Therapy Center**

Kanda, Allen, and Lavi all entered their rooms with a growing sense of dread.

Lavi's room had bunny plushies and figurines on the floor as well as small bunny paper cut outs hanging from the ceiling. The covers on his bed were now bunny themed and there were toy bunnies all over his bed.

"I'm not sleeping in here, no, no, no," he repeatedly shook his head and muttered to himself as he turned towards the door, which now had a bunny poster on it. At this point he walked to his bed, laid down on the large bunny comforter, and screamed something into his pillow that sounded oddly like profanity.

Allen's room had toy kittens, cat toys, the large cat jungle gyms (A/N: I've got no idea what to call those things, the giant cat climby toys with bells and stuff that are carpet material, let me know if you do. I'm curious about that now) in the corners, cat covers on the bed as well as stuffed toy kittens scattered across the bed and the floor surrounding it. Across the doorknob was positioned a toy cat. He chuckled in a slightly traumatized fashion as he pulled the comforter and sheets off of his bed to throw them over the toy's on the floor. He turned all of his pillows over, hiding the cats on them. However the toy cats handing from the ceiling everywhere he went couldn't be covered. He had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

Kanda's room had plastic sharks hanging on strings from the ceiling, there were toy stuffed sharks on the floor and on his bed, as well as a fake coral reef in the corner of his room with a plastic shark suspended within the fake branches. The covers of his bed were shark themed and all of his pillows were shark pillows. The sharks hanging from the ceiling hung at different levels, but all of them were at the right length to hit him in the head. He ducked under a shark with a growl and a shudder. He glared around the room before he turned off the lights, blocking out everything but the shadows of the "decorations".

* * *

**The next morning after breakfast**

Allen, Lavi, and Kanda exited the dinning room, entering the living room. On the table sat three cube shaped objects covered in brown gift wrapping, but leaving space at the bottom for air to enter. Rustling could be heard from two of the objects.

"For all of you guys' hard word I decided I'd get you all a little reward," Dr. Wenham grinned as he entered the room, "Go ahead, open them."

Allen cautiously pulled the paper off of the shape, revealing a box with a few air holes punched in it. Rustling sounded from inside it. He cautiously opened the top of the box and jumped back with a yelp of terror. Sitting in the box was a kitten. A food and a water bowl sat in the box as well.

Lavi dreaded what he would find as he pulled the paper from the box. Sitting inside a wire cage was a small black bunny. A water bottle hung on the side of the cage and inside a hay holder and a food bowl stood along with a igloo hidy hole. Lavi simply turned his back on the cage and the others.

Kanda glared at the paper as if it were some vicious animal as he reached out and pulled the paper over the top of the aquarium. A rainbow shark (A/N: the things you get at the pet store that may or may not be sharks) swam around in the aquarium.

"I need you three to take care of these guys today. Now take them to your rooms and have some bonding time with them," Dr. Wenham smiled.

Allen picked up the box, looking cautiously at the kitten sleeping on the newspaper lined ground.

"Allen, can you help me move this after you're done?" Lavi asked, motioning to the cage, too big for one person to carry.

"Same here," Kanda requested quietly.

"Okay," Allen nodded, not taking his eyes off of the cat. He was afraid it might attack him. Soon he reached his room and he opened the door. He set the box with the cat on it on his floor and closed the flaps to keep the cat inside. He then exited his room, closing his door behind himself. He reentered the living room to help Lavi.

"Does he really expect us to spend the entire day with these _things _in our rooms?" Lavi whined as he kicked his partially opened door open all the way to walk in. He set the cage down on the desk beside his bed, "What if they get out and kill us?!"

"I'm sure they can't kill us," Allen gave a fearful chuckle, feeling sorry for Lavi.

"Yeah," Lavi nodded, swallowing hard as Allen left, shutting Lavi's door behind him.

"Stupid shark. Why do I have to take care of you," Kanda glared daggers at the small creature, swimmingly peacefully and minding its own business.

"Do you need help carrying that aquarium back to your room?" Allen had entered the living room.

Kanda nodded as he and Allen picked the large tank up, one on each side. They soon reached Kanda's room, where the door was open. They left the tank on the desk, "Thank you. Good luck with that kitten."

"Good luck," Allen bobbed his head at the statement as he left, closing the door securely behind him.

He felt a nervous chuckle building in his lungs as he entered his room.

* * *

**Final Exposure **(individual)

"Good morning, guys. Are you all ready for your final day?" Dr. Wenham clapped his hands together enthusiastically as he looked at the three sitting on the couch in front of him.

"Maybe," Allen fidgeted, he hadn't slept the night before because the kitten had decided it wanted to sleep next to the warmest thing in the room, him.

"I'm just ready to be done with this," Lavi answered.

"Che," Kanda responded.

"Okay, today you will be coming in contact with the animals you fear," Dr. Wenham explained.

* * *

**Allen**

Allen was taken to a local pet store. A pet store where you can interact with the animals.

"Allen, you're going to have to carry the cats back to their kennels, okay?" Dr. Wenham asked as they reached to door to the room behind that cat kennels.

"You mean I have to touch them?!" Allen's eyes widened.

"Yes, but you only have to put them back in the right kennel. I'll tell you which one to put them in," Dr. Wenham assured, putting a hand on Allen's shoulder.

Allen nodded as they entered the room, full of cats.

"Okay Allen, do you see that calico cat? Just pick it up and put it in that kennel," Dr. Wenham instructed.

Allen reached a shaking hand towards the cat.

The cat stepped forward and rubbed its head on Allen's hand purring.

Allen didn't pull away, however his arm tensed as he carefully picked it up and walked to the kennel. He put the cat in the kennel and locked the door to the kennel.

Dr. Wenham directed him to pick up a fluffy gray cat and put it in the next kennel.

Allen was slightly less hesitant, "I did it! I put two cats back."

"Good job, now the one next to your left foot goes in the next kennel," Dr. Wenham praised.

Tears of joy filled Allen's eyes as he picked up cat after cat and returned it to it's small, temporary home.

"Will you lock yourself in your house when you see a cat, anymore?" Dr. Wenham asked.

"No, I don't think I'll have to," Allen looked at the cats, all happily sleeping, grooming, eating, playing, or staring at him.

"Good job, Allen," Dr. Wenham praised.

* * *

**Kanda**

Kanda was taken to an aquarium, that had a large touch pool full of various, gentle shark species. Bonnethead sharks and white spotted bamboo sharks swam peacefully through the shallow, cool water.

"Kanda, I'm going to ask you to pet at least three different sharks, and feed three more. You don't have to do anything past that," Dr. Wenham instructed.

Kanda felt himself freezing up, but he forced himself to lift his arm up.

"Be careful when you touch one, only touch just behind it's dorsal fin," Dr. Wenham advised as Kanda gently reached towards the water. A shark drifted past him and he set his hand in the cold water. Another shark drifted forward to investigate, it swam just below Kanda's hand and let him gently tap its back. Another swam serenely past, only to be met by Kanda's hand. One more drifted past, letting the pools current carry it. Kanda seemed more hesitant this time. He reached out and let it drift against his hand.

"Good job, Kanda. Now you're going to feed them. Just hold a piece of fish on the tips of your fingers and lower it into the water. The shark should just drift over and suction the food from your hand," Dr. Wenham assured.

"What if it bites me?" Kanda glared at the peaceful creatures.

"They won't, and their teeth aren't sharp enough to do damage," Dr. Wenham shrugged as he handed Kanda a piece of some unknown fish.

Kanda slowly lowered his hand into the water, but jumped as soon as a shark brushed against his hand. The shark swam away, startled by the disturbance.

"Try to stay still," Dr. Wenham advised as Kanda let another shark hover over his hand. He shoulders tensed as the shark drifted over but relaxed as the shark picked up the food and swam away. Two more to go. He accepted another sliced piece of fish, which happened to be the head of some small, unfortunate fish, and nervously lowered his hand into the water. Another shark drifted over slowly and pondered the food for a moment before snatching it up and swimming away. He accepted last piece of fish and held his hand under the water. He felt oddly calm as another shark drifted towards his hand. It snatched up the food and swam away, only to fight another shark to keep it.

"Was that really so bad?" Dr. Wenham asked, seeing the small look of accomplishment on Kanda's face, "Do you think you'll be able to go near the ocean or an aquarium?"

"Che, of course," Kanda tried to seem confident, but failed considering his past week.

"Good job, Kanda," Dr. Wenham congratulated.

* * *

**Lavi**

Lavi was taken, complaining and chattering, to a petting zoo. Bunnies sat freely in a pin and young children crowded to get a better reach to the soft furred creatures.

"Lavi, you've gotten special permission to enter the rabbit pin. You just have to stay in there for five minutes. Does that sound okay?" Dr. Wenham asked.

"I guess," Lavi nodded hesitantly.

Dr. Wenham shooed the children away from the gate and opened it, letting Lavi walk in before he closed it to keep the excited children out.

Lavi took a hesitant step deeper inside the crowded pin. The rabbits were everywhere. Memories of the incident at his friend's house came back.

"Lavi, can you pick one of the rabbits up?" Dr. Wenham asked.

Lavi gave a blank nod as he carefully picked the rabbit up, his hands trembling. He wasn't as frightened as he remembered being, though. Before he knew it five minutes had passed.

"Good job, Lavi. What do you think?" Dr. Wenham asked as he opened the gate again for Lavi to walk out.

"They were kinda, cute. They weren't as scary as I remember," Lavi smiled.

* * *

A/N: And there you have it! Chapter 1! So, please tell me what you think, drop an idea or two :) Oh, and sorry if there are any mistakes spelling or grammar wise. I spent all day working on this and my brain is burned out, I didn't end up having time to proof read it. Thanks a whole bunch for reading :) Sorry if it seems a little bad, but this is my first attempt at a story like this.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM, I never have, never will. Just wanted to put the characters through phobia exposure therapy. Nor do I own the ideas for the characters and their phobias. I owe that to you my dear readers.

A/N: I'm glad to thank yaoiprincess101, FrenchMacaroni, and guest reviewer Sarah Allen for these ideas.

Sarah Allen, I did have to lower the severity of Road's phobia, because I have a feeling that exposure therapy wouldn't work well in that case. Okay? Sorry.

Before I start this next chapter, I would like to say thank you, deeply, for all of the attention you've paid to this story. I was looking at how many ideas people gave me and two of the other reviews I got and I also saw how quickly I've gotten two favorites and four follows, and I sincerely started crying out of happiness. I can't even begin to thank you all enough for the ideas and I promise I'll use them all :) And I'm trying to post chapters every monday, but vacation got my writing schedule off. I'll hopefully keep up with that plan but I've never had a set day for chapters before. Oh, and also I apologize for any OOCness, it's just nearly impossible to fit phobia's in with these guys' personalities. Enjoy, sorry for the rambling note :D Oh, and I've also had to lower the severity of two of these three phobias as they were given in requests, sorry, but it was giving me a lot of trouble to write this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 2: Rabbits, snakes, and bedbugs.

"Welcome to the Black Order Exposure Therapy center," Dr. Reever Wenham greeted.

Three people sat on the sofa in front of him.

Road Kamelot didn't want to be there. She had been forced to go by her father. So what if she changed the sheets on her bed everyday and checked every inch of the mattress and bed frame for bedbugs? Most people would if they'd been in a house infested to the brim with the blood suckers. She realistically had next to no chance of seeing bedbugs, so she didn't even understand why she had to come. It annoyed her to no end. As far as everyone else knew she wasn't even afraid of bed bugs. No one knew how she reacted to them either.

Kanda Yuu was extremely annoyed at being in the room. His friends had paid him to go for therapy, claiming he was being ridiculous about it. He couldn't even be in the same room with a snake without almost panicking. He would get shaky and had once almost passed out from holding his breath.(A/N: Am I the only person who holds my breath when I'm scared or startled?) Another time he had froze up, refusing to move until the snake was moved off of the path they were on. He of course had absolutely no idea why he was so scared of them though.

Tyki Mikk was also displeased at being there. His brother had gotten him to go, ignoring any logical protest Tyki Mikk put up. He hated rabbits. He couldn't stand them. All he wanted to do when he saw a rabbit was escape, get away. Sure he'd accidentally broken furniture and such at the sight of rabbits when trying to scamper away, but he didn't see that as a problem worth this trouble. Sure he was what kept his other relatives from being able to keep a pet bunny, but he didn't really care about that.

"Today I'll be getting a gauge on how severe your phobias are. I'll be showing each of you a video of your feared animal. I don't want you to look away from the screen, I don't want you to try and react any differently than you normally would," Dr. Wenham said as he turned their attention to the small television.

"Kanda, you go first," Dr. Wenham warned as he clicked on the television.

The screen clicked on to show snakes. All kinds of snakes from small, innocent garter snakes to pythons. It showed them eating, slithering, basking. It showed a snake hatching from an egg. It showed people holding snakes.

First it seemed as if Kanda were holding his breath, but soon he looked at the opposite wall, "Turn it off."

Dr. Wenham nodded as he switched off the screen and switched the videos. He then glanced towards Road, "Your turn, Road."

As the screen clicked on it showed bedbugs, swarms of them enough to be visible from afar. Single ones, the images zoomed in close.

At first Road seemed okay, but as the video went on she began to hyperventilate.

Dr. Wenham turned the video off, "Tyki, you're up."

The screen clicked on to show various video clips of rabbits. Rabbits munching on straw and vegetables. Rabbits hopping, sleeping, baby rabbits, adult rabbits.

Tyki's muscles tensed as if he were going to run and leave the building all together. He never did move though. Soon the video ended.

"Okay. For now we're done, I just want you all to go to your rooms. You'll see some posters, I want you to hang them up around your room," Dr. Wenham instructed.

Everyone nodded uneasily, already certain of what they would find upon entering their rooms.

* * *

**Road**

Road entered her room and saw a small pile of posters sitting on the center of her bed. A sense of dread settled over her as she walked towards the small pile of laminated paper. Pictures of bedbugs covered the surface of each of the posters. Some were close, zoomed in pictures and others were only of the black marks they left on the wood of a bed frame when they were present. Overall fifteen posters sat in the small pile. They varied in size from five inches by three inches to almost a foot by a foot. A box of thumbtacks sat next to the pile. Road's legs went weak and she felt herself drop as she tried to pick up the first poster. Her breathing came in quick, short gasps as she let the poster drop to the floor beside her.

_I can't do this, _she didn't look at the poster beside her.

* * *

**Kanda**

Kanda entered his assigned room. One the bed sat a small pile of laminated posters. Each held a picture of a snake. With a curse Kanda walked to the other side of the room for a moment. He contemplated simply shredding the posters but knew Dr. Wenham would just find more posters. With a slight tremble in his gait he approached the posters. He shakily picked one up, unconsciously he began to hold his breath as he carried it towards the wall, the picture facing away from him. He tacked the first poster to the wall and turned to repeat this process, only then realizing he had been holding his breath. He exhaled and inhaled, giving his deprived brain oxygen.

* * *

**Tyki**

Tyki walked to his temporary room. He opened the door and entered the room. On the bed sat laminated posters of rabbits.

_This is the worst therapy ever, _Tyki thought bitterly as he considered how to hang up the posters without seeing them. He finally decided on hanging the posters up facing the walls. He didn't want to have to look at the faces of rabbits for the rest of the week.

* * *

**The Next Morning at Breakfast**

"Did either of you sleep at all?" Road asked quietly. She hadn't even been able to put the posters up the day before, or move the posters off of her bed. She laid her head down on the table.

Kanda shook his head.

"I would have, but I had to turn all of the posters around," Tyki muttered.

"How did you three sleep?" Dr. Wenham asked as he entered the room.

"None," Road answered.

"Terribly," Tyki growled.

"Che," Kanda responded.

"Are you all ready for today?" Dr. Wenham clapped his hands cheerfully.

He got a collective head shake.

* * *

**Wildlife Center**

"Today you'll be seeing the animals of your phobia in cages. They can't hurt you," Dr. Wenham led them through the large center, "Tyki, you will be first."

Tyki groaned at that announcement. The other two seemed mildly relieved to escape their phobia for a moment.

Soon they reached a room that held multiple cages of rodents. One cage held rats, another mice, some held gerbils, and one held rabbits. Upon closer inspection three more cages of rabbits were found lined against the back wall.

Tyki froze in the doorway, watching the small creatures move about their habitats.

"Can you take a step forward, Tyki?" Dr. Wenham asked.

Tyki was about to bolt. Every muscle told him to run. His arms trembled as he slowly took a step forward, defying every bit of common sense screaming in his head.

"Good, now can you take another step? Just know that you don't have to if you feel you really can't," Dr. Wenham said.

Tyki sincerely considered backing away and giving up. He didn't want to take a step closer, he was terrified. Warm tears of fear welled behind his eyes as he forced himself to take another step forward.

"Good, can you take another step?" Dr. Wenham asked.

Tyki shook his head, tears had begun to fall from his eyes.

"That's okay. Do you want to wait a few minutes or are you done?" Dr. Wenham spoke gently.

"I'm done," Tyki shook his head, letting himself back out of the room.

"Kanda, you will be next," Dr. Wenham warned as they exited the room. Soon they entered the next room.

Terrariums filled the room, many held snakes. Small corn snakes occupied most of the cages, but baby ball pythons took up one or two of the glass tanks.

The sudden intake of breath at the doorway told everyone Kanda had held his breath on accident and only then realized it. Kanda reluctantly entered the room.

"Good job, Kanda," Dr. Wenham assured, "Do you feel like you can take another step towards any of the cages?"

"C-che," Kanda took a shaky, hesitant step towards one of the cages. This particular cage held the smallest snake in the room.

"Good job, Kanda. One more step, okay?" Dr. Wenham reasoned.

Kanda took a step forward, he was holding his breath again.

"Can you reach out and touch the cage?" Dr. Wenham asked.

As if his body was on autopilot he did, as if he didn't even think about it. As soon as his hand brushed the glass tank he let out a breath, hurrying to the door.

"Good job," Dr. Wenham praised, "Road, your turn."

Road squeaked in fear as she followed them to another room.

In the room sat multiple pieces of bed frames, all bedbug free but with the familiar black marks left my colonies of bedbugs.

Road squeaked in fear upon entering the room.

"Don't worry, there are no bedbugs in here," Dr. Wenham assured as he entered the room, hoping Road would follow.

Road's knees felt weak as she stopped just before the doorway.

"Do you think you can take a step forward?" Dr. Wenham asked kindly.

Road half nodded and half shook her head. She could feel her breathing getting jumpy and uneven. She wondered if it would ever really help if she got over this phobia. She considered that maybe she should just give up now. Save herself the fear, save herself the trouble. But she decided it would be nice to get over the phobia. If she really pushed herself to it. With a deep breath, hoping to keep her lungs satisfied with the air, she stepped forward into the room.

"Good job, Road. Now just two more steps, okay?" Dr. Wenham urged.

Road nodded, her breathing had quickened extremely as she took one step and then another.

"Great job, Road. Can you reach forward and touch that bed frame in front of you? Or do you need a minute to calm down?" Dr. Wenham asked.

Sweat dotted Road's face and she was shaking all over and she tried to slow her breathing. She wanted to get this over with. She quickly raised her arm in front of her and let her fingertips brush the discolored wood before she let herself retreat to the door. She was still shaking.

"You all did very good today," Dr. Wenham assured as they left.

* * *

**Back at the Therapy Center**

"Now, when you all go back to your rooms you'll have a surprise," Dr. Wenham smiled.

"We're not gonna thank you for it, are we?" Road asked.

"Probably not," Dr. Wenham nodded.

This earned a small groan from the three.

"Well, go to your rooms and see what it is," Dr. Wenham encouraged.

Everyone returned to their rooms.

* * *

**Kanda**

Kanda's room held a variety of toy snakes, plastic ones, rubber ones, fabric ones. It held basking logs draped with toy snakes as well as plastic snakes suspended from the ceiling at just the right height to brush his head wherever he walked. Snake covers replaced the plain ones on his bed and large toy snake plushies covered the bed as well.

Kanda quickly realized he was forgetting to breathe and took a step farther into the room. Had it been two days ago he may not have taken it as well, but at the moment he just tried to ignore the toys brushing against his hair. He ignored it all as he removed the snake bedspread and pillowcase, tossing them over the "army" of toy snakes on the floor. He wondered if he would ever be able to fall asleep knowing there were so many snakes in the room.

* * *

**Road**

Road's room held multiple toy bedbugs, all plushies about the size of her fist. (A/N: I've got absolutely no clue how Reever managed to find so many bedbug plushies, but just go with it.) Scattered across her bed were similar stuffed animals as well as some handing from the ceiling.

Road considered backing out of the room for a moment before she decided to stay. Her knees felt weak and she wondered if she were about to topple over. With a forced calm Road entered the room, stepping carefully around all of the plushies before she carefully removed them all from her bed. Her knees gave out, but she thankfully landed on her bed instead of the toy infested floor. She hurriedly pulled the blankets over her head and laid to face the wall, hoping she wouldn't forget about the plushies the next morning.

* * *

**Tyki**

Tyki's room was filled with a variety of toy bunnies. They covered the floor and the bed, they hung from the ceiling. Bunny covers decorated his bed.

Tyki's flight instinct took affect, resulting in him standing inside the hallway and outside of his room. With a calming breath he reentered the room. He felt his heart hammering in his chest, sending blood pounding past his ears. He stepped cautiously around the toy rabbits to avoid touching any of them, ducking below the ones hanging from the ceiling, until he reached his bed. He cleared it of the plushies and figurines before he cleared the rabbit covers away as well. He knew he probably wouldn't sleep much, if at all.

* * *

**The Next Morning at Breakfast**

Road laid her head down on the table, watching her fellow therapy recipients. All three of them looked exhausted, laying their heads on the table, slouching in their chairs, barely keeping their eyes open.

"Did either of you sleep at all?" Tyki asked, his voice exhausted and distant.

Both of the others simply shook their heads.

"Good morning you three, I assume you all didn't sleep well," Dr. Wenham entered cheerful as usual, "Because you three did so good yesterday I got you all a present."

No one seemed enthused by this news.

"Come on, lets go see them," Dr. Wenham led them to the living room. On the table sat three wrapped packages. Rustling could be heard from two of the packages and a small sound like scuttling insects from the other, "Go on, open them."

Road was the first to hesitantly approach her package. She pulled the topping of paper off to reveal a large, tight sealed tank filled with bedbugs that scurries over a piece of wood, "Y-you really shouldn't have."

Kanda next opened his package. A large terrarium stood there with a small snake slithering about happily, oblivious to the fear it struck in one of the room's occupants.

Tyki was the last to open his package, revealing a wire cage with a rabbit happily munching on hay.

"Today you'll be spending your day getting to know your temporary pets," Dr. Wenham explained, earning noises of disapproval from the three, "Take them back to your rooms. Tyki, you'll need to give your bunny food and water. Kanda you'll have to give the snake water. The bedbugs don't need anything."

The three retreated to their rooms.

* * *

**Road**

Road looked at the tank of scurrying bugs sitting on the chair of the desk in her room. She hated the way they moved around the cage. Every time she looked over at the insects she felt fear tense her body and chill her spine. She wanted to just get rid of them but she knew it wouldn't help her at all. She sat on her bed before her knees buckled and busies herself with reading a book she had brought with her.

* * *

**Tyki**

Tyki filled the water bottle that attached to the cage and put it in place, looking at the food dish sitting in the middle of the cage. He would have to reach over the rabbit to retrieve and fill the dish. With a small burst of courage, or as Tyki thought of it as stupidity, he opened the cage, grabbed the dish, filled it with the store bought rodent mix food, and put it back in place before closing and locking the cage. A small, delighted smile spread across his face as the rabbit started eating happily.

* * *

**Kanda**

"What do you want?" Kanda growled at the snake, staring at him from inside the terrarium.

The snake flicked its tongue in response as it slithered around, exploring its cage. A water dish sat in the middle of the cage.

A water bottle sat next to the cage.

Kanda finally gathered the courage to open the lid to the cage, fill the bowl with water, and close and lock the cage again.

The snake turned back to stare at him.

"I am not talking to you anymore," he said as he stood and walked to his bed, leaving the tank on his desk.

* * *

**Final Test: Road**

Road followed Dr. Wenham to a house. It was Dr. Wenham's friend's house, which had a bedbug problem, "Road, I'm just going to ask you to go in there, and stay as long as you can. Okay? I'll go with you."

"Okay," Road nodded, she swallowed silently as she followed Dr. Wenham inside the house. It was empty for heat treatment the next day. At the thought of the creatures scurrying around her knees went weak. She held herself up, though.

"Are you doing okay? You look pale," Dr. Wenham asked.

Road nodded, determined to stay in the room as long as possible.

"Alright, good job. I think it's safe to say you're almost over your phobia," Dr. Wenham said after some time.

Road didn't realize it had been ten minutes, "Can we leave now?"

"Yes," Dr. Wenham laughed as he followed a rather eager Road to the car they had come in.

* * *

**Final Test: Kanda**

Kanda followed Dr. Wenham to the side entrance of a zoo, only to be met by one of the workers.

"Hello, Dr. Wenham. Follow me," the worker walked off without introduction.

Dr. Wenham led Kanda to the reptile building, "Kanda, some of the baby milk snakes need to be put back in their homes. Can you gather them for us?"

"Che," was Kanda's indifferent, fake brave response.

"Alright," Dr. Wenham opened the door to let Kanda enter. Slithering along the floor were baby milk snakes.

Kanda stopped breathing for a moment before he realized what he was doing. With a surprising amount of calmness and gentleness he walked to one of the snakes and picked it up. He carried it to the open tank against the wall. For the first time he wondered what he had been so afraid of. He soon gathered most of the snakes. The smallest of the family of snakes still slithered freely around the room. Kanda was beginning to feel a bit nervous.

"Good job, Kanda, just two more to go," Dr. Wenham assured.

Kanda nodded as he chose to pick them up at the same time. One snake in each hand he returned them to their tanks.

"I say you passed," Dr. Wenham congratulated, leading Kanda towards the door.

"Che," Kanda answered, _I really just did that_.

* * *

**Final Test: Tyki**

Tyki followed Dr. Wenham to the local pet store. He wondered what crazy scheme the therapist had developed to "help" him with his fear. As they entered he noticed that it was before store hours.

One of the store workers waved the two over, "Is he the one you wanted to feed the rabbits?"

"Yes, just tell him what to do and he'll follow," Dr. Wenham nodded.

Tyki almost sighed in relief. He had heard horror stories from the other two about their final tests. All he had to do was take the bowls out and fill them. Soon he was put to work, looking at the row of ten cages each holding three rabbits. Maybe this wouldn't be as easy as he had initially thought. He took the large package of food and walked to the first cage in the line. He carefully unlocked the cage and reached in to pull the food dish out. His hand brushed against one of the rabbit's backs earning a frightened yelp from Tyki. He regained his composure before he pulled the dish out and filled it. He replaced it in the cage and closed the door, locking it securely. He moved onto the next cage without incident; however, on the third cage one of the rabbits decided it wanted attention as well as food. It climbed onto the door and tried to climb onto Tyki's arm. With a forced calm Tyki put it back in the cage along with the food dish. It and its cage mates happily began eating. The next three cages went by without contact as well, but on the seventh cage one of the rabbits successfully escaped the cage, leaving Tyki to recapture it. He did this with a small level of fear, but quickly tossed it back in its cage. He finally finished feeding them. He hadn't once felt panicked.

"Good job," Dr. Wenham congratulated, leading Tyki to the car.

_I still didn't need this, _Tyki thought stubbornly.

* * *

A/N: So sorry for the long wait guys! D': I really didn't meant to take so long but then I had trouble writing the beginning, then I went on vacation, then I came back but I was really busy with other stuff, then I procrastinated. I honestly meant to have this out yesterday (monday). Sorry for the excuses. Also, I have a new rule for requests. Due to my difficulty with writing these recent ones (I'm selfish, I know) I will now only accept a phobia of severity seven or less. Anything that would cause a panic attack or something of the sort would realistically not work with exposure therapy and I want to make writing this easy for myself. Thanks a bunch if you kept reading after the wait and horrible chapter, I'd appreciate to hear your input :D


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys, I know I didn't post a chapter and I'm sorry, but this story is getting harder for me to write, for some reason. I also have an idea I really wanna work on more, so this story will no longer be continued. Thanks for all the attention you guys gave it, I really appreciate it all :D Maybe you'll read the new story I'm working on, bye bye.

P.S.

Thanks a bunch.


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